Is it safer to land in water now?

[Tremzack]

I saw in the new features for 1.0.5 that the buoyancy model was redone. Is it safer to land in the sea now, or is land still the safer option?

Edited November 10, 2015 by Tremzack

[Just Jim]

I wonder the same thing....

[Starwhip]

Yes, very much so. Your crash tolerance depends on your impact angle as well as your velocity. Splashdown is now possible in aircraft without losing a single part.

[Tremzack]

Would it still be better for pods coming straight down with parachute? I always wince when my spacecraft splashdown because water disintegrates them.

[Starwhip]

Would it still be better for pods coming straight down with parachute? I always wince when my spacecraft splashdown because water disintegrates them.

Depends on how fast you're going down.

Water is now safer in general, but it can still be a vicious beast. Experiment a bit. I can't answer for every case.

EDIT: Department of redundancy department, how can we help you? XD

[Tremzack]

Thankyou

10 char.

[panzer1b]

Ive jumped out of a plane with a kerbal from 10km, and LIVED the crash. So yeah, it is WAY WAY WAY safer, to the point that parachutes are useless unless its extremely aerodynamic and has no airbrakes or wings to slow it down below 100m/s.

Ive found a 30m/s vertical velocity survivable in most designs, and below 10m/s vertical you cant take any dmg.

[Alshain]

Definitely

[Snark]

Just playing around with a toy jet drone using the cute little Juno engine: ditching a plane in water is easy as pie. I came in gliding at like 60-70 m/s and landed on the water without a problem. Ripped off a fin that was projecting down, that was it.

Then I tried to take off again and ended up skimming over 100 m/s before it finally ripped itself apart.

[Dispatcher]

I was flying one of the stock shuttles and, well, it flew apart. I let the tank empty and then separated the shuttle. It lost engine and all control surfaces and part of a wing. I was over water and my two Kerbals were still comfortable in the cockpit. From about 11Km I was able to use RCS to barely get it level enough before hitting the water. I did so at 90 m/s, expecting my Kerbals to be killed. Surprise, the craft remained as intact as when it hit and my crew was able to wait for rescue.

[Warzouz]

I do a lot of SSTO rocket recovery in KSC east waters. I hops things will be easier

[Vanamonde]

Look in your spaceplane hangar. There are several new stock planes made specifically to land and takeoff from water. It's entirely do-able now.

[KerikBalm]

Hmmm, I'll have ot have a look late... but I was able to make a plane of my own... the floats could be a bit more buoyant (I've since made the front float a little bigger, and shifted the rear floats+ gear forward)... it landed on water fine after making orbit... and it took off again with enough thrust.

The panther couldn't get it off in non afterburning mode, but the panther plus two rapiers firing got it off the water easily enough.

So... spaceplanes that are also seaplanes... ie, suited for marine environments too... I made a space marine?

[NathanKell]

Try using wings as hydroplanes. Look at how the Osprey does it.

[maltesh]

I took the Stearwing D45 out for a flight, ran out of jet fuel, kicked off the rockets, rolled it over, opened the bay, and EVAed all the crew to see if they'd survive falling from several Kilometers up. Most of them survived the first bounce, but none of them survived the second.

Uncontrolled, the plane landed in the water a dozen kilometers away or so.

I don't think any pieces broke off.

[Sanic]

It's not just safe, it's 40% safe!

[colmo]

For seaplanes, give your wings a few degrees of AoA. This way you don't need to tilt the nose up to takeoff.